Episode 82
Ash quote: "I didn't see you out there winning any matches!"
Maybe because Misty wasn't in the competition???
Knowing what I know about future League episodes, I really enjoyed this one. Minus Team Rocket.
This episode made the Indigo League a big deal, which it's supposed to be for Ash. The whole season has been building up to this point. And from the start of the opening ceremony with running Moltres's flame in to the stadium right up to Ash and Richie chilling in the empty stands, it really feels like the Indigo League is important.
And I think that's my favorite part of the episode. Ash and Richie, sitting in the empty stands, the whole big tournament done for the year. It's weird, but that's the part of everything big that sticks in my memory the most. When it's all over, and you're quietly reflecting on what just happened. Kind of makes it have more of an impact.
Well, okay, that fight with the Ivysaur was rather bad. Sparky couldn't even get off more than one attack, and Ivysaur just kept charging. It wasn't a fair fight, and that's kind of why I get tired of Team Rocket in every episode, because I just feel like there's other ways to fill up the run time that could be better. Like make Richie's last fight in the League less...crap.
Episode 2.1
Kind of weird that Ash gets this party and the other two trainers from Pallet are never shown. It would have been great to finally learn who they are. Would have also helped in the battle against Team Rocket so that Charizard didn't have to save the day before ruining everything.
But it was also good to see everyone's Pokémon. (I kind of wanted Onix to squish someone.)
The whole thing with having to get rid of Pidgeot... It feels bad. Only because the bird didn't get a lot of good screen time. It never even got to battle in the League because the writers forced it out. And there was that long stretch of episodes where it just didn't appear. So while on one hand, it's sad to see Pidgeot go, especially after Ash rides it... It's also just kind of whatever, because there wasn't a lot of opportunity to get attached to Pidgeotto before it evolved and left.
But... What's that? The Orange Islands? Exciting!
Episode 2.2
I have so many questions about that blimp.
So if Team Rocket owns it, why is the store(?) able to give away a free ride on it? Why do those two workers know about the blimp's condition? Why is there no regulations for blimps, so that Giovanni can't let it fall into disrepair? Who cleared it for takeoff if everyone at the port knew it was that badly kept? Why is a blimp the main way to get to an archipelago?
Speaking of them getting to the Orange Islands... Ash thought that they would be walking to the islands. Boy's not too bright.
Misty needs to put Togepi on a leash.
(Disclaimer: I realize that my questions about the blimp are answered in the Japanese version, but I'm watching the dub, and that's what I'm basing my comments on.)
